It’s recently become very trendy to be green. People are banking online, using their own shopping bags and, it seems, businesses are catching on. Companies like Bank of America have started rewarding customers for paying bills electronically and places like Trader Joe’s are encouraging their customers to bring their own bags by holding raffles for free logo bags for those who bring their own grocery bags. IKEA, too, is discouraging customers who use their bags by charging five cents for each bag used.
But, according to an article in the March 1 issue of The Wall Street Journal, these small incentives aren’t really adding up to very much compared with the amount of toxins we are responsible for each year. According to the article, the average
“global citizen” produces 4.5 tons of carbon dioxide annually (incidentally, the average American produces 21 tons of carbon dioxide every year in consumption).
To capitalize on this new trend, companies like Bank of America and AT&T have begun donating money to charities devoted to planting trees and forest conservation. But apparently, the contributions these companies are making are minimal compared to the amount of dangerous gasses being created by our consumption of precious resources each year.
According to the article, a fully-grown tree can only absorb three to 15 pounds of carbon dioxide each year. Compare that with the thousands of pounds the average person around the world puts out annually and planting tree appears to be only a drop in the proverbial bucket toward what we need to do to combat global warming.
Not only are these companies catching onto this popular new fixation, but they are doing it at a minimal cost. There are many ways in which a company can cut down the environmental impact of production, but instead these companies are opting for things that don’t really make a difference and look good to consumers.
This is also making us a bit lazy in our monitoring of resource consumption. Many consumers feel that if they use their own plastic bags at the supermarket or pay bills online they are justified in not being as vigilant in other, more dangerous contributors to global warming like driving and consumption in general.
Instead of being lulled onto a false sense of security, we should recognize our duty and monitor our use of products that are a much more immediate threat to the environment than plastic bags and paper bank statements. Using fewer of these things is wonderful and a great start, but clearly this kind of vigilance just isn’t cutting it.
Drive less. Recycle. Buy less. Use hankies instead of tissues. Turn off the lights when you leave a room. Go vegetarian once a week. Use your own bags at the grocery store and bank online.
If we incorporate all of these things into our daily lives, maybe this world will still be livable by the time we decide to retire. Picking and choosing the easiest, most convenient of these changes won’t do the job. We have to look at our consumption and start being more conscientious of our use of the world’s resources.
